Suikoden V: Improved, yet regressed.

I had at least 3 starts and stops with Suikoden V and I didn't play it the first time until well after it had been out for a while. This is mostly being due to how bad Suikoden III was, but when I did get a chance to play, the first time I just couldn't get into it. Other times I ran into technical issues that frustrated me into quitting. Now, I go to play all the way to the (near) end.

Going into this I was expecting to like the game based on the positive feedback. I walked away a bit frustrated.

What I Liked

The duels are significantly better than previous games, even though they are easier by far. Generally much smoother and more fluid.

For the most part characters are very well developed and I had no complaints about any character except Lymsleia.

It told a decently intriguing story (but see dislike below...)

Relaxing, well done music.

What I Didn't Like

The first and only Suikoden that I can recall where I couldn't stand the large scale battles. I know that's shocking - but the real-time was only effective when it was one type of unit or another. It showed its flaws when ships and foot troops were comingled and the focus jumps to whoever was getting attacked.

The other issue with the large scale battles is that for the most part, you're just spamming special techniques and enemy weaknesses to crack a hole to rush the base. You don't gain more troops (As far as I could tell) which would allow you to enjoy battle without spam techniques.

I mentioned the story. It IS intriguing. My problem is that it does what Trails games do, which is put at least 1/3rd of the story into books that you are forced to read to get the full picture. I REALLY dislike this. It needs to be a cutscene in the game, even if optional. I was thrown off when an NPC mentioned "Queen Falzrahm" and I had no clue what he was talking about, until I stumbled on an article online that had the text from one of the Old Books. I can't stand this technique.

It felt like there was "108 Star" fatigue with some of them. Sialeeds actually isn't a star, but she is; turns on you yet doesn't. Luserina's mom (Alison) is never seen in the game and is behind a door you can't interact with, despite Salum dying and the Barows household being decimated. Lymsleia reluctantly becomes queen, and for brief moments acts like she's turned against her brother. One character who I forgot, helped you get out of prison and stranded you at a strange art town, never to be seen again (yes, I know you can look for him, but this was poorly written).

They made it seem like Sialeeds turned against the Prince to get back with Gizel. Yet she only turned against the Prince to keep the Twilight Rune from falling into Godwin/Barows' possession. But when she fights the Prince she acts like a ...female dog. For no clear reason. Just strange. (If this was the Rune's influence, that was not alluded to or mentioned by anyone. In fact, even Lucretia who is otherwise brilliant is confused at what's going on.)

Zerase is warping all over the place when you first meet her, walking through walls, disappearing at will, stopping another character from using the Twilight Rune. Yet when you first encounter Sialeeds, Zerase acts helpless, as though she has no way to follow Sialeeds. But then near the end, Zerase is right back to warping and suppressing the Rune like before. Strange.

Money is a pain - because everything is expensive. TOO expensive. You'll need well over 20 million Potch and that's not good.

You basically require a guide to get everyone. I never did find the elevator person (there's actually an unused elevator in the castle), never did find the window person, never did find the voice person, etc. (I wanted to see how many stars I could find without a guide, seeing as I was able to get all but Gremio without a guide in Suikoden I.)

There are 'progress gates' - points where you can only upgrade your weapon to a certain point, and enemies are HP sponges that hit hard. Yet most of the bosses are cakewalks. There was only one point I had trouble and it was because it forced me to use characters I'd never used before (Thus not built up or equipped properly) against a Queen's Knight that kept evading attacks.

But the most annoying thing? The. Game. Is. SLOOOOOOW. Meaning, everything is designed to just be clunky. It takes 8 clicks to use a healing item. Then another 4 clicks to repeat. Multiple clicks around the menu. Can't just Triangle out of menus. Slow scrolling up and down. Excessive backtracking (especially when the game expected you to bring a certain character or not bring some other character). Just dry and slow all around.

Suikoden V - not a bad game, not a great game. I didn't have as much fun as I or II with it though. WAY better than III and IV.